The Wolf and the Lionslayer
by CAKEMAN
Summary: Things are heating up as Cody faces a nameless enemy, and tries to come to terms with what he's done. Meanwhile, what has become of Ganz?
1. Aftermath

**Here it is, my first and only _Radiata Stories_ fanfiction! She's my pride and joy, she is, and I hope you all enjoy it. Now make sure you give me plenty of reviews, 'kay? I need them in order to feed my tyrannical ego... **

**And by the way... I like criticism, and I can handle it like a big girl. But flames (and their respective flamers) will be openly and mercilessly mocked by yours truly in my next posting. So if you want to be immortalized in the Hall of Idiocy, go ahead and send those flames on over!**

* * *

Cody was awoken by the sound of something heavy on the roof. He knew it wasn't his mommy or Flau, because they were too stealthy to be so clumsy. At first Cody was worried, but when he heard someone crying up there, he felt bad for whoever it was and promptly decided to go out there and see if the person was hurt.

Once he was outside, it became clear to Cody that his Uncle Ganz was the one who was crying. This confused him; didn't boys stop crying once they grew up? Uncle Ganz must've really hurt himself if he was crying over it. Determined to help him, the little boy clambered up the chain link that leaned against the shed, ran over to his Uncle Ganz, and threw his arms as far around the round little man as possible.

Ganz was definitely surprised to see Cody up there, and then he cursed himself for thinking that he could get any privacy on the roof of that old shack. "Cody! I—it's nearly midnight! You should be in bed!"

He tried to shoo Cody away, but it was no use. Cody would not be thwarted by a mere curfew. "Why are you crying, Uncle Ganz? Did you hurt yourself? Did someone hit you? I bet Mommy's gonna beat him up for you!" When Ganz didn't respond Cody said, in hushed tones, "Oh… did Mommy yell at you?"

"No, dear boy, your mother hasn't yelled at me recently." Ganz looked at his feet sadly, and then added, "Your mother and I will always be friends, I'm sure of it. She… she wouldn't have it any other way." He sighed and gazed up at the stars. "Only…"

"'Only' what? What is it?" Cody knew it was useless to ask, though. He knew that Ganz would either not tell him…

…Or feed him a line about "grown-up" things that he didn't need to worry about. "Now Cody, there's no need for you to worry. Sometimes grown adults need to cry, that's all! It's perfectly normal, I assure you."

"You don't like being a bandit?"

"No, Cody, that's not the case at all. I enjoy my work—although I admit that I didn't quite know what I was getting into at first. I know now that your dear mother and I would never do anything that… that we'd regret…" And then he let his sentence drift off into silence. Ganz looked sadder than ever, even though he was no longer crying.

"Did Mommy say you can't drink anymore?"

Ganz stared at Cody in surprise, and Cody thought he was going to be scolded. But then Ganz started laughing. He laughed until all of the sadness left him, and then he was the cheerful, lively Uncle Ganz once more. He scooped up Cody and gave him the biggest hug he could muster. Happy to see him feeling better, Cody snuggled up to him, carefully avoiding his bristly whiskers. Uncle Ganz smelled good, like aftershave and moustache wax. He was the only person Cody knew who smelled like those things.

As they sat on the roof of the old lean-to together, Ganz looked at Cody and asked him, "Cody, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Cody thought about it, and then said, "I want to go to Vareth! And I want to be a swordfighter like you!"

"Well! You'll be a very accomplished young man, then. With that kind of spirit and determination, you'll do well at whatever you do. But I want you to promise me something, Cody."

"Okay, what is it?"

"I want you to promise me that you'll complete your education at Vareth, no matter what happens, and that you'll be the very best swordsman that you can be. Promise me that you will do those two things."

"Okay."

* * *

It has been two months since Ganz left Radiata for good. The war between Humans and Non-Humans slowly faded into a lull in that time, and it was said among the Humans that the malice of the Fairy-Creatures had finally waned, though none could possibly believe news so good as that.

Still, Radiata hadn't become a mound of ashes, and the Humans still thrived; none had fled to their ancestral birthplace in the darkest valleys of the West. Since all of Humanity hadn't been smitten, so far as Ganz could tell, the genocidal cause of Lord Zane was at long last lost.

In spite of his mild dislike for Lord Zane, Ganz wanted to find him, to ask him if he knew the whereabouts of his long estranged father Gawain. Of course Ganz knew he'd be driven away or killed on sight as it were, so he kept his distance from the City of Flowers, deciding instead to go to Nowem and seek the help of the friendlier Dark Elves.

On the way there he met a very large Green Orc who told him that Gawain went on a sojourn to the End of The World with Lady Ridley. Ganz headed forthwith to Dysett, the forsaken desert in the south, and what he saw there amazed him.

The End of The World was a deep inkwell of perpetual nighttime, ending abruptly where the living earth began. He knew from his youth that there stood a mighty tower in this sacred place. But all that was left of it now was a desolate ruin floating in the void.

What could all of this mean? If the House of the Sleeping Guardian was reduced to nothing, then surely all of the dragons were dead. But who was responsible for this display of unmitigated chaos?

Ganz searched the desert for his father, and even for the destroyer, but for naught. Upon the second day, however, as the sun climbed up over the canyons to dispel the morning chill, it was then on that bleak bright morn that he saw a pile of stones with an ancient morning-star resting atop.

A burial mound, for his father Gawain.

There was a tall woman who stood before the mound, whose skin was dark like smoke. Her hair was long and white like starch, and her eyes were like two stars. This woman was clearly of the eldritch Ninth Race.

Ganz was overcome by her stately presence, and by his fatigue and starvation. He fell to his knees before her and said, "Pray thee, good woman! I wish to know the name of the one who rests beneath this mound.

"Son of Gawain, 'tis thine own father who wast buried here."

Ganz was now in despair. He bowed his head to the ground and, while he could still speak, asked the name of his father's murderer—although deep in his heart he already knew. "Pray thee, dear woman! Doest thou know the name of the man who hath slain my father?"

"Son of Gawain, thine father was slain by the one who also did put to the sword the last of the proud dragons—I tell thee, not one is left! His name is Jack Russell of Solieu, son of Cairn Russell."

There could be no mistake now. Jack, Ganz's dearest friend Jack, was the one who'd brought about the end of the old cycle of destruction…

…Just as he was the one who slew Gawain.

_Tsuzuku…_


	2. In Two Opposite Directions

**Not the cheery little fanfic you were expecting, eh? Well, things'll get better for our heroes... eventually... **

**(muahahaah...) :3**

* * *

Just two weeks after his thirteenth birthday, Cody was accepted into Vareth Institute. His test scores proved him to be clever and very well rounded in his studies: the professors were quite impressed by his diligent spirit and his eagerness to be taught, and Cody was awarded with quite a few scholarships. What the scholarships didn't cover Cody paid for in cash: he'd been going on the nightly raids with his mother and Flau for quite some time now, and even did a few jobs on his own. 

Shortly after his acceptance into Vareth Cody, with the help of Flau and Rynka, saved up enough money to buy an old fixer-upper in the Town of Fanaticism & Insanity. Rynka was proud of her son, who'd truly become the man of the house, and the four of them—Rynka, Cody, Flau, and three-year-old Olivia—lived happily in downtown Radiata, building a life of love and prosperity, a family of sorts. Things were peaceful for them. On some nights they'd all sit up on the roof to watch the stars, and Cody would wonder where his Uncle Ganz went.

* * *

For three long years, Ganz wandered the countryside, trying to forget everything he saw in Dysett. He'd spent most of those three years in the deepest parts of Tria, in the darkest regions of that old mountain range. 

Where he was, there was nothing to be seen of the Human's fertile vineyards and gardens. Everything around him was shrouded in darkness, under the heavy mantle of twisted beech and oak branches. The air was always thick with the sweet scent of dead leaves. At first, that was the only thing that Ganz could smell. In the warm seasons there were giant ferns and bracken, which bore tender young fiddleheads, and in autumn there were nuts and morel in abundance. But it took poor Ganz a few weeks before he started to see the rich bounty of the forests for what it really was.

He hated gathering food in the beginning. He couldn't recognize any plants at first, except for a few berries he'd seen in Radiata's markets, and it took him some time to realize that he had to bleed his game before butchering it.

He also hated the cold, a constant chill that his armor was powerless against. He dreaded the perpetual gloom, dimness so overwhelming that the forest and her denizens were like a living silhouette. The creeping fog was thick at times, soaking his clothes, hair and skin so that he was always covered in either sweat or condensation.

His skin became pale and ashen, but he didn't notice. He didn't even realize how many years it'd been since he'd spoken to anyone—even himself. He no longer stank of civilization. He shaved only out of habit, and only because he still had his old razor: his skin was nicked and cut, but he didn't notice, nor would he have cared about, how crazed he looked. His bleached locks grew out: he'd hacked them off one day with a disgusted snarl when he'd happened to see his reflection in still water. His hair grew darker and darker as time passed: he was a stranger to the sun and the warm fields now.

After a while the local creatures stopped attacking him when they saw him on the mountainsides: to them he was just another animal—an animal that could rip them apart with his bare hands. The only sounds he made anymore were the ones he'd heard from the beasts around him. He spoke like a beast, ate like a beast, lived like a beast, and slept like a beast. He shared a cave with an old bear that'd learned (the hard way) to let him be.

After only a few months of such isolation Ganz ceased to think of himself as "Ganz." In fact, he'd stopped deliberately thinking of anything other than his immediate surroundings. He simply existed, and his aspirations were no higher than those of his four-legged neighbors; his dreams were of making a good kill and of protecting his territory. When later he'd try to remember those days, he'd recall nothing but obscurity and clouded memories.

Two more years of such Hellish isolation would go by, two more years of psychological numbness before he'd again see one of his own people.

_Tsuzuku…_


	3. Subhumanity

**And here's where things get evengloomier andmore nasty...(but you guys like that kinda stuff... right?)

* * *

**

Cody woke up in a puddle of his own vomit, in an alley by the Echidna Gate. The last thing he remembered was being sick, like a hangover without the booze. He sat up and tried to wring as much of the puke out of his shirt as possible. His clothes were also drenched in sweat and there were splotches of blood, too. But judging from his lack of wounds, the blood wasn't his.

As he stood to go home Cody heard something moving around a nearby stack of crates. He looked behind them and saw his little sister. She was hugging her knees, and her eyes grew wide with fear when she saw him.

"Olivia? Are you okay?" Cody held out a hand to her, and she cringed at first, as though he was going to hit her. But then she started to cry and flew at him, throwing her arms around his waste and crying into his messy shirt. "Please don't get mad again!" Her voice was muffled in the wet fabric. "They didn't mean it! Don't hurt anyone!"

Cody frowned slightly as he stroked her dark hair. "What do you mean? Who did I—" he glanced up, and what he saw killed the words in his mouth.

There was blood everywhere—huge smears of it all along the wall, smudged handprints and spattering, as if someone had taken a large brushful of blood and flung it all around. There were pools of it, dark and half-congealed, settled into the pockmarks and cracks of the pavement. And worse of all—the thing that made Cody put a hand over his sister's eyes—were the torn-up pieces of human bodies lying here and there.

The thought seemed ridiculous to Cody, but he thought it all the same: was he the one to do this? What else would his sister have been talking about? But how did it happen—how was it even possible? What fifteen-year-old was strong—or brutal—enough to commit such violent acts with his bare hands? No sorcery that Cody knew of could have done this.

He tried to remember what had happened as he carried Olivia home. The memories were a big dark blur at first, but little pieces slowly came back as he walked down the hall toward their house. He remembered going to meet his sister as she walked home from Uncle Godwin's. His mom was out on a job with Flau, and she'd left it up to him to protect her, something that he took quite seriously. He remembered seeing two men try to lure Olivia away, and when they spotted him they grabbed her and ran for the gate. He remembered being very angry about this. Very angry.

For the life of him, Cody couldn't quite recall what happened next. He saw flashes of violence, remembered a lot of screaming, and then the next thing he knew Olivia was holding him back, shrieking at him to stop. Stop what? And then, he must have passed out.

Part of him didn't want to ask. Cody was afraid to know. But he had to ask his sister. He had to know the truth. "Olivia… what happened?"

* * *

Ganz could smell it. There was an intruder, someone who didn't belong in the forest. It was male, it was in _his_ territory, and it had to be hunted down and killed. It smelled Human, but Ganz couldn't be sure. Whatever it was, it had scared off all of the game. Well, most of it, anyway.

As he searched for the invader, Ganz came across a dead wolf. It had been slain cleanly and quickly with a weapon, but no part of it had been eaten. This was definitely the work of a Human.

Ganz wanted to move on, to hunt down the unwelcome guest and kill it, but he just couldn't ignore the smell of that fresh kill. It was still warm, untainted, and it was there for the taking. Just thinking about it made Ganz's stomach growl; the hunting had been poor that morning, and he was very hungry. So he decided to make a quick meal of the dead wolf. After that, he would pick up on the trail and perhaps even eat the Human for dinner.

Jack knew that he was being hunted. He just didn't know who—or what—his stalker was. So he ran ahead until the thing sounded far off, back-tracked, and then circled around on his stalker, spear in hand.

As he went further along the deer trail he heard the sound of raw meat being torn off of bones, the sound of those bones being cracked open and gnawed on. It had to be Jack's stalker—there were no other living creatures around except for a few wolves, and Jack had taken care of those already. Whatever this thing was, it was big and strong enough to break his bones, he reckoned.

He crouched down in the bole of an enormous tree and peered out into the clearing ahead of him. What he saw there made him sick to his stomach: it was a fellow Human, clad in rusty dented armor and looking like he hadn't bathed in months. He was tearing into a dead wolf with his teeth and bare hands, and not only was he was eating it raw, but he was enjoying it. Jack watched with growing mortification as the man cracked open a rib with his teeth and sucked out the marrow, not even pausing as he dug his free hand into the things innards to search for its heart.

And the worst part was that Jack recognized this man. It was none other than his former Captain and best friend, Ganz Rothschild.

_Tsuzuku…_


	4. The Taste of Blood

**I bet this whole "dual storyline" thing is bugging you, eh? Well, stick it out--things'll pull together soon enough!**

**By the way--if you got _this_ far you're doing great!

* * *

**

The last thing Cody wanted was to see his mom freak out when she saw the state they were in, all covered in blood. Luckily, she didn't. She had him clean up and change his clothes, and asked Flau to put Olivia to bed.

Rynka hugged her little daughter when Flau was done tucking her in. "Are you gonna be alright, baby?" Olivia nodded, staying silent. But Rynka could see how troubled she was, just by looking in her big brown eyes.

They were her father's eyes, she thought sadly.

Rynka kissed her on the forehead and walked out the door. "We're gonna be gone a few hours, but Flau's here. And if there's any trouble, Brother Clive's next door, okay?" Olivia nodded again. "I want you to rest, but if you're hungry later there's some rice and beans in the icebox." Rynka quickly added, "And no soda—you have school in the morning."

Rynka met Cody on the front step. He didn't look at her; she drew one long breath, and then addressed her son calmly. "Alright, what happened?" She walked down the street toward the Beast Pit, and he followed.

Cody sniffled and scratched his nose. After a few seconds he decided it would be best to start from the beginning, with the stuff he remembered. "There were some men… they were trying to kidnap Olivia. They were carrying her off, and she was screaming for help. I heard her voice, her fear, and I got mad. I… wanted to kill them, I guess—"

"What? Who were they? Anyone we know?"

He thought hard. "N—no… I don't think so… But I lost control, I think, and then everything was a blur."

"A 'blur?'" His mom sounded dubious—understandably so.

"I remember being angry. I wanted… I wanted to _kill them_, Mom. And I did."

"You killed two men—all by yourself."

"I don't know how, Mom! I—I'm just as uncertain as you are." Cody sighed and looked down. He ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't even realize that it'd be that easy for me to kill a fellow Human being…"

Rynka looked up at him as he held the door to Club Vampire open. He still couldn't look her in the eye, and that broke her heart more than anything he'd done. "It's a lot easier than any of us realize, Cody. Anyone is capable of violence, even murder. It's just a circumstance away. Besides," she put an arm on his back as they stepped into Headquarters, "how else were you going to save Olivia? These guys meant business, right?" She sat down on the couch, and Cody flopped down next to her.

"Well, yeah…"

"And they were armed?"

"I… I guess so…" he finally looked at his mother, and she gave him a wicked grin.

"So they got what was comin' to them, right? You think they would have let your sister go just by you _yelling_ at them? No dice, kiddo." She tousled his hair and his expression lightened a little. "You did what you had to do. Besides—we're _crooks_, remember? The way you act, you'd think we were clergy or something."

Cody smirked, trying not to laugh as he tried to picture his mom as a nun. Her, standing next to those pompous old hens in the New Faction!

"Well, it's good that we're finding humor in all of this…" The deep voice of an older male caught them by surprise. They turned to see Orotroz behind them, and they stood up to pay respect. "Now, what's this I hear about young Master Cody?" Orotroz turned his golden false eye on the boy, and that unwavering crooked grin of his… Cody found it all a bit unnerving. But then, most everyone except Sonata and Nyx did.

Cody went straight to the point. "I killed two men, sir, but I don't know how."

"You killed two men, but you don't know how…" Orotroz stroked the hairs of his chin thoughtfully, still smiling.

"Y—yes, sir. If I didn't know any better, I would say I didn't do it…" this piqued Orotroz's interest even further. "But I had an eye witness in my little sister."

"Ah yes, your dear little sister. Olivia, is it?" Cody nodded. "Is she alright, then? She isn't… traumatized by all this, is she?"

"Well, she's a little shook up, but she is talking and stuff… sir…"

Orotroz smiled even wider, but it just looked like he was baring his teeth. "Good, good! I do hate to see unnecessary suffering." _'I bet…'_ thought Cody. "Now, would you care to show me the scene of this little incident?"

"Sure. It's out by the echidna gate, in a little alley." And then, as an afterthought he added, "You… you might want to change out of your nice shoes though, sir. It's pretty nasty down there."

* * *

Jack leaned his head against a boulder and tried to catch his breath. _'Man! Since when was the Captain so quick on his feet?'_ he thought. _'And bloodthirsty, at that.'_ Jack had his Leviathan spear at the ready, but he really didn't want to use it on one of his best friends. He didn't even know what he'd done to make the Captain so upset. Maybe he was just embarrassed about being seen in such an unkempt state—Jack remembered Ganz to be a bit of a fop, back in the good ol' days. Then again, the Captain was never _psychotic_ about it like this…

Ganz was right on Jack's trail. He clutched the remnant of his greatsword, ready to strike. The blade had been shattered years ago, in a colossal battle with a hundred-year-old twinhorn (in which Ganz had nearly died), and now there was only a jagged piece of blade left. It served as a good weapon, though; it could still tear flesh and bone like it did before. Just like it was going to tear up that Human intruder.

The hunt had continued long after sunset. Moonlight pierced the canopy of young leaves, and the moon stood still in the calm night air. Little crickets and frogs sang and fiddled, nightjars and owls called to each other from their branches, and the forest was filled with their melody. It would have been a restful time for Jack, if circumstances had only been different.

Suddenly the wolves started howling; to Jack it sounded like they were egging his assailant on. He'd figured that he might try to talk some sense into Ganz, but Ganz would have none of it. He snarled at him like an animal, like he'd forgotten how to speak. Jack had looked into his eyes, and saw nothing there of the old Ganz. And now, Ganz was closing in on him, ready to tear him to pieces like a dog would do to a hart. But there had to still be some small vestige of the Captain in there somewhere! Jack thought hard. How could he snap him out of it?

And next thing he knew, Jack was face to face with Ganz.

"Captain!"

Ganz pounced on Jack and went for the jugular with his broken sword. Jack tried to deflect it with his spear but the sword not only broke parry, but splintered Jack's spear shaft! If Jack hadn't moved his head in time then it would have been undoubtedly detached from his neck. The blade drove into the moist earth and nicked him just beneath his left ear.

Instinctively Jack's gauntleted fist sailed up and connected with Ganz's jaw. Jack heard the painful sound of Ganz's jawbone cracking in two, and then Ganz was out for the count. He dropped like a sack of doorknobs right onto poor Jack and didn't move.

"Aw man!" Jack gasped for air; Ganz had really knocked the wind out of him! He squirmed and struggled, and finally succeeded in rolling the fat little guy off of himself. "You sure haven't lost much weight, Captain…"

In truth, Jack did notice a little bit of a weight loss. But the hunting and foraging must've been _real_ good in that part of the world. Ganz still looked like he'd have a heart attack if he'd tried to scale the Big Tower stairs in Radiata Castle though.

Jack looked around and scratched his head. "Come to think of it, where am I?"

A man came out of the shadows and replied, "You are in _my_ realm now, boy."


	5. Downward Spiral

_The people of Radiata were flooding into the streets to meet their hero, Cairn. It was raining hard, and it was nearly midnight, but no one cared. Cairn had just saved them all from destruction at the hands of a fierce water dragon, and the citizens were eager to show their gratitude._

_Cairn couldn't hear their cheering through the Hellish shrieking of the voices in his head._

_He couldn't quite remember when it had started; it must have happened when Kelvin died and faded into mist. He _did _remember feeling the change, the sudden rush of power, as he dealt the final death-blow to Kelvin. At first Cairn had thought that it was nothing more than adrenaline, or even his endorphins. But what of the voices?_

_Cairn could still hear them all, seven hours later, as though a thousand people were now living inside of him. He didn't like it; he didn't like the evil things that these voices were telling him to do. It was driving him insane, and it took all of his concentration just to keep the violent urges that they brought about in check._

_For the first time in his life, Cairn was scared. He knew he'd be a danger to his wife and children in this condition, so he made his way toward the opposite end of town—toward the Beast Pit. He didn't know how long it would take, to make the voices go away on his own, but he knew that he couldn't approach anyone without lashing out. _

_He didn't hear them coming. Shin, Fan, and Gil were on him so quickly, before he'd even time to draw his sword. Cairn leaped back out of Gil's reach, grabbed Fan by the ankle, and swung her into Shin. He drew the Arbitrator just in time to parry an upward slice from Gil's sword, only to be stabbed in the back by Shin. Cairn turned on Shin, only to take another hit—this time by Fan. She clung to his back and stabbed him over and over. His blood ran down into the dirt roads of the Beast Pit, mingling with the rain water. He cried out and, reaching around, grabbed Fan and flung her away._

_In the Beast Pit no one was around, except one woman—one witness, who knew she couldn't stand against three Light Elf assassins by herself._

_Freya ran as fast as her legs could carry her, bursting through the door before her son Ganz could even open it, dashing up the stairs and practically tearing the bedroom door off its hinges. She saw her husband Gawain sitting on the bed with his back to her, staring blankly out the window with the look of a broken old man._

_Freya was beside him in an instant, shaking him to get his attention. "Gawain! Gawain, we must help Cairn!"_

_"No one can help him…" Gawain's voice was so small and weak that Freya didn't hear him._

_"How long will you sit there? Your friend is about to die by the Light Elves! Don't you care!"_

_"It is his fate." Gawain's words were slightly more audible now and they caught his frantic wife by surprise. She opened her mouth to speak, but then she saw Cairn running down the street below her window, pursued by the three Light Elves._

_Cairn was bleeding all over the place, slipping on the wet, bloody cobblestones as he ran down the street. Between the relentless pursuit of the Light Elf assassins, the unrelenting voices in his head, and the dreadful sense of his very life seeping from him, Cairn was sinking into hopelessness. Only his best friend could help him now—Gawain would surely save him!_

_"Gawain, you have to help him—look at how he bleeds!"_

_"I will not." Gawain looked away, stood up, and went to lean against the opposite wall._

_Outside, Cairn raised his head heavenward and cried out. "Gawain! Help—" and then, his voice was cut off. All that came from his mouth was blood. Freya clapped a hand over her mouth and watched in horror as Gil thrust his sword all the way through Cairn's spine and heart, all the way up past the hilt. _

_Cairn's pain went away, and so did the voices. In his final moment Cairn knew nothing, felt nothing, remembered nothing, except peace and blessed silence. He looked up at the Rothschild's house one last, loving time, and through a hole in the clouds he could see the white stars in the heavenly vault above. And then he slept forever._

_Gil put his boot on Cairn's back and pushed him down to release his sword, and laughed mirthfully, as though he'd completed a masterpiece. Freya couldn't even scream; her voice was caught in her throat._

* * *

"Hmmm… no sword did this. Any weapon capable of hacking through Human bones would have made a _much_ cleaner cut. And do you see this one here?" Orotroz nudged a headless, mangled piece of torso with his foot. "It was torn by teeth, and the arm and head were _ripped_ off, not severed. The bite marks are much too big to be Human, and reveal too much thew of jaw. I am inclined to say that this was the work of a feline, judging by the claw marks…"

While Orotroz calmly droned on, Cody and Rynka stood there in horrified silence, sickened by the sight of what lay before them. They didn't dare look at each other, afraid to one another's emotions.

"The interesting thing is that there are no tracks leading to or from this alley—only Human footprints. This leads me to believe," Orotroz turned to face the other two and clasped his hands together, "that we are in fact in the midst of a lycanthrope, even as I speak."

"No! There _has to be_ some other explanation!" Rynka banged her fist on the plastered wall next to her.

"Like what?" Cody's voice was small as he continued to look down. "Who else could've done this?"

"Cody…" Rynka pulled him close and buried her face in his shoulder as the tears began to fall. "Cody, you can't be—not you! You wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"I told you I killed those men."

"That was just 'cause you had to!"

"Mom…" Cody didn't know what to say. His voice cracked and a tear fell down his cheek, and he held his mother as she wept silently.

Orotroz sighed. He really did hate to be the bearer of bad news to such fine folk as Rynka and Cody. He walked over and gently put a hand on each of their backs.

"My dear Rynka and Cody," he said, "it breaks my heart to say these things to you. Perhaps, if we could find a cure to his condition… after all, his situation has not been properly diagnosed. And now that I think of it, it is only a half-moon tonight, which would put quite the damper on our lycanthropy theory, wouldn't you say?" Orotroz paused to think, or perhaps for a dramatic effect. But at any rate he continued, "Perhaps he is possessed, or merely under a curse. And if that is the case then there is no exorcist or counter-curse that we of the Void Community cannot lay hold of."

Orotroz turned toward the main street, with his back to Rynka and Cody again. "It is imperative that we unearth the root of this problem, if we are to come to a conclusion as to the appropriate solution. Master Cody, I trust that you will look into the situation in your school; I'm quite sure that Vareth's fine professors will be able to help you."

"Sir!" Cody managed a smile, and then he realized that he was crying in front of his mom _and_ his mom's boss _and_ that he was doing so in public. He stood straight and wiped his eyes and Rynka, sensing her son's sudden chagrin, let him go. "Uhhh—yessir, I'll find out what I can."

"There's a good lad." Orotroz smiled a genuine smile and gave Rynka his coat, which she politely accepted. "Come now, my dear. Let's get you something to drink. Someone is already on their way to do a forensic sweep of the alley, so no one will find out what happened. This will be our little secret."

Orotroz led Rynka back toward Headquarters, and she quietly thanked him. Cody watched them as he followed them back, and he couldn't help smiling to himself. Sure, he felt bad about becoming a… a whatever… and he wasn't too thrilled with the manner in which he'd dispatched those would-be kidnappers—though they were dead men walking, either way. But he empathized with the helplessness that his mom must've felt at that time. He knew what it was like to be unable to help the ones he loved, and he was grateful to Orotroz for trying to ease her mind. It reminded him of Uncle Ganz in a way.

Cody sighed and looked up at the stars as he walked down the street behind them. He wished Ganz were there—he'd know what to do. Well, not really. But he'd certainly know how to make them all feel better. And Olivia—she'd feel better in no time with him around.

Suddenly Cody was shaken from his thoughts by the realization that someone was standing practically nose to nose with him. It was a woman, about as tall as he was, and she wore a black dentist's mask over her mouth and nose—presumably to conceal her identity. Other than the long brown braid, and her very out-of-place tailored suit, her appearance wasn't very remarkable. What _was_ remarkable was the fact that no one—not Rynka, not Orotroz—seemed to realize that she was there. Was she a ghost?

The woman narrowed her eyes at Cody, sending a very clear message of hostility. Then she silently walked around a corner and was gone without a trace.

Cody's heart was beating so hard that he thought his ribs would crack. Who was that woman, and how did she get there? Was she even really there to begin with, or was she a figment of his imagination?

* * *

"You are in _my_ realm now, boy." A tall man stepped into the light and stood before Jack. His voice reminded Jack—painfully so—of Gawain's. It wasn't _quite_ so deep and gravelly, though, and it was gentler.

The man was a whole head taller than Jack, and was wearing a kilt—yet another reminder to Jack that he was quite a ways away from Radiata. The man smelled like a goat, and his dark red hair was tied back. He carried a ewe lamb in one arm and a shepherd's crook in the other. He had a wide mouth underneath his stubbly facial hair, and he had beastly yellow eyes—just like Gawain. Jack had to wonder if the two weren't somehow related, but then he dismissed the thought—the man was too tall, after all. But as frightening and unnatural as those eyes were, he still had a glow of compassion and gentleness about him.

Jack thought to take out his sword and then decided against it—for now. "Who are you?" he asked.

The man opened his mouth to speak again, but then he spotted the handle of the Arbitrator sticking out of Jack's pack. He became angry and, after gently setting down the lamb and crook, he drew his own sword. "Damn you, boy," he growled, "It wasn't enough for you to kill my brother; now you would slay his only son!"

"Huh?" So his suspicions proved true. Jack didn't know which thought was more staggering —the idea of murdering his best friend, or the thought of having to face Sir Gawain's family. If they were all as hardcore as he was, then Jack was really in for it! "Now hold on a minute! You got it all wrong! I didn't kill the Captain—honest!" He jumped back out of the man's reach and found himself with his back against a large boulder. "Look, I killed Gawain. It's true. He murdered my father, and so I avenged my father's death by facing him in a duel. So… if you wanna fight me or something—"

"Fool!" The man grabbed Jack by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

"My brother didn't kill your father—he was assassinated by those wretched Light Elves!" So much for the gentle shepherd. The sinewy man was literally squeezing the life out of Jack with one fist, and there was so much rage in his eyes and voice that it was actually starting to frighten Jack. As if the prospects of asphyxiation weren't alarming enough.

Jack tried to speak, but all that came out was a throaty cough. His lungs were beginning to hurt, and his vision was becoming a little dark around the edges. He had to do something, or he'd surely die in that God-forsaken wood. Jack kicked at the crazy man with all his might, but he may as well have been kicking at an oak tree.

"Don't try to apologize," the man narrowed his eyes, and his voice was deathly calm. "Your foolish pleas will not give my brother life. You will burn in Hell, and maybe then your words will carry some weight!"

* * *

_Some would say that it was too much for a twelve-year-old boy to witness. Ganz stood in the front room, watching Cairn's bloody death as it happened mere feet from him, through a pane of glass. He was filled with terror and dismay as he watched the three Light Elves continue to butcher Cairn's body, long after he was already dead._

_The tallest one—a pale, shifty-eyed Elf with a fresh cut on his cheek—seized Cairn by the hair and roughly hewed the head from his shoulders. He held it aloft, and Ganz could see the look on his face—the disdainful air of victory—in the light of a lightning bolt. The Light Elves flew away with their ill-gotten trophy, leaving the broken body of Cairn behind them._

_When he was sure they were gone, Ganz ran out to Cairn's body. He still couldn't believe it was him. He dropped to his knees and wept bitterly over the warrior who'd been reduced to a mere shadow of his former glory by a mocking swarm of Fairy Creatures. _

_Inside the house, there was strife._

"_How could you just let him die! How could you!" Freya sobbed and, feeling her legs grow weak beneath her, she sank to her knees before her husband. She took his big, calloused hand between her small, dainty ones, pressing it to her cheek as she cried. She couldn't understand how Gawain had suddenly grown so cold and withdrawn—he'd been that way since he'd come home earlier. "You were the best of friends… what happened?"_

_Gawain closed his eyes and sighed. His dear wife's words had reached his heart, but her last question hurt him the most. What _did_ happen? What was so awful, so unforgivable, that he had to let his friend die in the streets like a dog? What had Cairn done, that justified this ultimate betrayal of friendship and loyalty? Gawain knew then, with his wife's soft-spoken words, that he'd done something terrible and irreversible. He was no friend of Cairn's, and now he was less than Human._

_Gawain felt helpless now, for the first time in many years. He wanted Freya to forgive him, to take him in her arms and just hold him. But she wouldn't now—and what right did he, a traitor, have to ask for comfort? He gently lifted her chin so that he looked into her teary brown eyes, and he saw that she didn't want to look at him anymore. He felt like a monster._

"_Gawain, don't you see?" her voice was barely above a whisper. "His blood is on your head now…" Her voice was filled with dread of the thought. "You've left his children fatherless… a little girl and a newborn…" she looked away. "How could you?"_

_She was right. Gawain had destroyed Cairn's family by allowing him to die. How could he stay, then, surrounded by all his loved ones, when he'd torn apart the family of the one whom he'd called his friend? Gawain went to the door._

"_Gawain, where are you going?" Freya got up to follow him, but he stopped her._

"_No, Freya. I can't stay here anymore." Gawain swallowed hard, barely able to look at his wife. But he had to get one last look at her before he left! "I love you Freya, more than anything else, but I must go into exile now."_

"_Exile? You don't mean—you're going to leave us? But why?"_

"_I destroyed Cairn's family…" the belief, his resolve, were crystallized in his heart now. "How can I stay with my own wife and child, when I've robbed a family of their father? Goodbye, Freya."_

_She was holding back tears, clutching the doorframe for support. He knew she wouldn't understand, and he didn't expect her to. If only he could hold her one last time! But instead he turned and walked away. He would long for her until he breathed his last._

_When Gawain came downstairs his son was waiting for him. "How could you just let him die, father! He was begging you for help, and you just watched him get slaughtered!" There were tears in Ganz's eyes, and his wiry little frame was quivering as he looked upon his father with a newfound loathing. His eyes reminded Gawain of Freya, of what he was about to leave behind._

"_I…" Gawain's voice cracked, "I'm leaving, son… I'm sorry—"_

_Ganz interrupted him. "And now you're _abandoning_ us! Go ahead, then!" He marched right up to his father and looked him in the eye. "I hope I never see you again, and I hope I don't turn out like you." His voice was calm and even, but it carried far more disgust and hatred than it would've if he'd shouted._

_The words undoubtedly hurt Gawain, almost more than his wife's, but it was the look in his son's eyes that really killed him. He had so much to tell his son, so much to teach him, but now he'd never get that chance. He turned and walked out the door, avoiding eye contact with the few people he came across. He went out through the Faucon Gate, and never looked back._


	6. Crazy Uncle Galen

**Okay, here's the next chapter--Ganz's reunion with his only living family member, his Uncle Galen. We also get a better glimpse into what Cody's going through. Before I go on I want to say, first of all, that Ganz's family is very very ethnic and very un-Radiata. Ganz and his father--and to some extent Gawain--have all received outside education in Radiata and in other countries, so they seem like regular-joe citizens, right? But enough of that--I don't wanna spoil the story for you! ;p**

**I also want to thank Vegeta26 for constantly giving me support. Thank you _so much!_**

**Now enjoy this new chapter!**

**

* * *

**

Cody was lying in bed under a single sheet, with the window all the way open. The air in his bedroom had been oppressively hot during the day, but the night brought with it a gentle breeze and the music of the crickets from the cluster of tiny backyards in the center of their city block. It was3 a.m. now, and the birds were beginning their tuneful morning routine. But in his sleepless state, Cody took no notice of their songs. For him, everything was just as still and stifling as it had been during the torrid summer day. This only served to further Cody's feelings of aloneness as his nightmare played and replayed in his mind.

In his dream he was all alone in a bleak, colorless Radiata. The blood was thick and black, pooling on the floors, flowing down the streets in streams, smeared over walls and windows, dripping from the rafters and doorframes. The blood was like oil, and a fire spread over it until the entire city was engulfed in flames. Cody ran through the streets, calling out to his mother, sister, and auntie Flau. But the city was empty of all, except the living blood and fire. Then there appeared a red lion, approaching from the Faucon gate. It spotted Cody, and with a vicious roar it pounced on him and devoured him. Not one hair, not one bone or scrap of raiment, was left of poor Cody. The lion roared in triumph, and the city burned for eternity, a perpetual sea of fire, never depleted of its kindling.

Cody didn't entirely understand the dream, but he knew it was a bad omen, and this was enough for him. The last thing he'd wanted had finally been delivered to him, atop all of his other problems. How was he going to deal with interpreting omens when he already had his newfound curse to contend with; his upcoming finals, which would determine whether he'd receive the Sorcerer's Mantle that year; and when he had to help support the family? He was man of the house, but his schoolwork had all but taken over his life, and he hadn't been able to go on as many jobs as he'd like to. It was proving more and more difficult for him to bring in any money. He couldn't find any time to spend with Kira, that nice girl from across town. To top it all off, he had this hostile newcomer to deal with—she wasn't friendly, by any stretch of the imagination.

Who was she, anyway? Was she affiliated with Nocturne's people? Did she know about his transformation? Was she going to try and exploit it somehow? Was she out to harm him, or his family? Did she want to blackmail him? Did she want money? Was she going to force him into her service? Did she represent someone else?

All of those questions—and many more—flooded into his brain and gave him a migraine. Lately, not a day went by where he didn't have a headache. There was too much for him to worry about, and not enough people for him to turn to. He just couldn't bring himself to make his dear momma worry, and he couldn't exactly take his auntie Flau into confidence about everything. And as for Olivia, how could she understand? So Cody was on his own.

He rolled over to lie on his belly, resting his chin on his arms. He wondered where Ganz could be; it'd been five years since anyone had heard from him, and Cody wished he knew where he was. Cody believed in his heart that Ganz wasn't like his father. Unlike his father, who'd left Rynka when she was pregnant, Ganz had gone away to find out where his own father was—that was a legitimate reason to go, in Cody's mind. He'd often wanted to do the same thing, to find out whether his own old man was alive or dead. Cody fought the growing impulse to resent Ganz; he knew that Ganz was a good, honest man. If he came back, he'd help Mom raise Olivia. But did he even know about Olivia? Surely he wouldn't have left if he'd known…

If Ganz came back, Cody would at least have someone to talk to again. And who knows? Maybe he'd even have an idea of how to un-curse Cody. Didn't Ganz once tell Cody about the weird superstitions of his people? Ofttimes, superstitions were surprisingly effective at lifting a curse. He would always tell Cody about the strange things that his people did back home in Rothberg.

Cody closed his eyes and tried to block out the tears. Any hope he had of seeing Ganz again seemed so far away. For all he knew, Ganz was dead. The thought was too depressing for Cody, and before he knew it he was crying. He gave in and let himself cry—quietly, so no one would wake up.

* * *

Ganz didn't know it at the time, but he was having a flashback. He was sitting under a bridge, contemplating the abject pointlessness of his existence. No one wanted to hire him, and he was all alone in a city that regarded his kind with disdain. The only family that he had left had been estranged from him—an uncle whom he hadn't even written to in over a decade. 

But then he heard the crying of a child. He followed the sound to see a little boy standing in an alcove, clutching a stray kitten like it was his only family in the world. Ganz's heart went out to him—they were in the same place, and Ganz loved him in an instant. Ganz wanted to make sure that the little child never had to be scared and alone.

And then he heard the deep voice of his uncle, dark and damning and full of fury. It was like thunder in summer, making the whole valley of his homeland shake. It reached him and seized his very frame, rousing him from his sleep.

Ganz opened his eyes. His jaw hurt, and when he tried to speak the pain became worse. He sat up and wiped the blood from his face. Even the slightest brush of the hand made his jaw ache, and it seemed to be broken. Ganz heard two people struggling somewhere behind him (the struggle sounded rather one-sided), and he turned to see his Uncle Galen. He was trying to crush the windpipe of his long-lost friend, Jack Russell. The sight of his uncle's uncharacteristic violence was a shock to Ganz's system, but even more so was the sudden awareness of his own conscious thoughts. Now fully aware of himself and his surroundings, Ganz leapt to his feet and pulled on his uncle's shirt.

Galen immediately dropped Jack to the ground, facing his nephew with eyes full of love. "Ganz, you're alive!" He immediately touched a moonstone to Ganz's jaw, knitting the broken bone and healing the wounds. "Dearest nephew, I'd feared you lost to your people for eternity!" Galen embraced his nephew, a tear falling from his eye.

Jack got up after he had a good dose of fresh air into his lungs, and glared at Galen's back. "I told you I didn't kill Ganz! Only a jerk would kill his best friend!" And then, in a rare flash of sagacity he added, "A _jerk_ like your _brother_!"

But Galen wasn't listening, and neither was Ganz. "Uncle Galen! It's been so long…" he paused, taking a whiff of his father's brother. "So _you_ were that elusive stag that I couldn't find! I did always wonder where that hint of sheep-scent was coming from."

"Ah yes, it's amazing what you can do with deer musk."

"Hey! Isn't anybody paying attention here?" Jack waved his arms a bit. "I just _totally_ dissed your stupid brother!" No one cared.

"And I couldn't leave this little one alone." Galen picked up the ewe lamb once more and nuzzled her as she gingerly sniffed his face. "She had just been born a few months ago, but her mother was taken away by a smilodon. I hunted the creature down and killed it, but I was too late." Galen moved around, a small, unobtrusive shuffle in place that Ganz had seen before. To an outsider, perhaps he was rocking the lamb to sleep. But Ganz saw him do that when he sang his paeans and litanies, when he cited the Writ of the Ancestors, with the misty, far away look in his eyes. "That smilodon did taste good, though, and I read something very interesting in its bones… and oracle of a man who eats dogs and sleeps with the bears… his mother was a goddess, who married a lion… the man is a friend of the Four Sacreds… I knew it was you, Ganz, and I knew that you were in my mountains. I searched for many days, with the little one on my shoulders, and then I divined that you were on the Witch's Mountain, and so _here_ I have found you."

Ganz only sighed and nodded. This was his Uncle Galen, all right—always speaking like the holy man that he was. As a young man he'd traveled to the Olacion Order, to study the gods of Radiata and their teachings. But he'd quickly returned to the pastures on the mountainsides of his homeland, and to the gods of his ancestors. He was the exemplar of the motherland and the people in it—untamed, unaltered by the passage of time, with no intention of pursuing "progress."

Ganz's desire to stay away from Rothberg was outweighed only barely by his love for his uncle. It had been twelve years too long since he'd seen him, the man who'd been as a father through his adolescence.

"Come, my nephew. We've much to discuss. Home is only over the next mountain."

"Hellooooo! Are you guys deaf?"

Galen turned and looked at Jack like he was a cockroach. "You're coming too. I'm not done with you yet."

"Don't you even _think_ of hurting him, Uncle Galen!"

_Tsuzuku..._


	7. Old Enough to Know Better

**Huttah! Time for the 1# Jam--uhhh... never mind. I'm just being stupid now... **

**But anyway, I rate this chapter "eggplant," and also the letter "j," because of alcohol use, betrayal, unrequited love, and moderate-to-heavy animal slaughter. It is recommended that you do not punctuer or expose this chapter to extreme temperatures. It also gets the "A+" treatment on several on-line auctions. Did I mention that I made the "boss monkey" list?**

**Sorry. I know that didn't make too much sense. But before I get to the story, I want to thank the one who calls him/herself "Lazy-Butt" for being such a sweetheart! Awwww...**

**Now on with the story!**

* * *

"Get your head back in the game, boy! You're not even trying!" Jarvis turned and spat, and then he pointed his sword at Cody. "Why are you stuck in la-la land today?"

Cody stood back up and rubbed his sore butt. That was the sixth time he'd been knocked flat on his behind, and they'd only begun training twenty minutes ago. Jarvis was still waiting for an answer to his question, but Cody just shrugged. "Sorry, sir…"

Jarvis sighed. "Look, if you have something on your mind, fine. You have your finals and all, but you need to clear your mind! Your enemies aren't going to stop and talk about feelings just because you're a little down. No—in battle, things are…"

Cody stood there and listened to Jarvis upbraid him for what seemed like forever, and after a while the words blurred together. When Cody had first met Jarvis he'd been shocked by the insensitivity—and what had seemed like callousness—that spewed forth from the older man's mouth. Sure, he'd heard his mom and auntie cuss each other out on numerous occasions, but this was something completely different. It had taken Cody the entire year to realize that this was normal among men; it was yet another reminder to Cody of his virtually male-free upbringing. Nowadays, Cody just smiled (or tuned Jarvis out) and took his trainer's words for what they were—sage advice or pointless banter.

Jarvis, in turn, had learned how to tell when his pupil was tuning him out, and when he was genuinely upset over something. Jarvis put away his sword and walked over to him. "Hey, is it that bad, pal? You wanna talk about it?"

Cody shook his head. "Naw. We gonna practice or what?"

"Your finals are this weekend, right? You get the week off to study." Then Jarvis pointed menacingly at Cody, just for effect. "But next week, _you'd_ better be pounding _me_ into the ground! Got it, punk?"

"Sir!"

"Now let's get some eats—on you!" Jarvis turned and marched down the street toward the Begin Eatery, with a bemused Cody following him. He couldn't believe that this old man was such a freeloader.

They ate some ramen and drank some booze, and laughed and talked about the day that they'd had before training. This was what they usually ended up doing after training, and Cody kept a little stash of Dagols specifically for this purpose—his "Ramen Fund," he called it. And then Flau would usually come around eleven or so, to drag Cody home.

Jarvis saw her coming down the street from out the window. Suddenly he wasn't so laid-back; he whipped off his axe-helm and tried to shine his armor with a napkin from a neighboring table. "How's my hair, boy?" He studied his reflection in the top of a metal napkin dispenser, meticulously straightening his moustache and curling up the ends—just a bit, for a slightly rakish effect.

"You still think you got a chance with her, man?" Cody knocked back the lees of his Angostura ("sissy stuff," according to Jarvis) and wiped his mouth on his shirtsleeve.

"Shut it, boy! You say one word about this to her, and I'll kick you from here to Crown Island!" In sooth, the only reason Jarvis had taken the job of training Cody was because he'd seen Flau submit the request. When he'd first begun the assignment, Jarvis primarily used Cody to try and get to Flau—though this was no longer the case. He was absolutely smitten with Flau, though he couldn't tell how old she actually was for the life of him. He prayed every night that she'd turn out to be at least eighteen, and Thanos took every opportunity to heckle Jarvis about his "tragic and sordid affair with a schoolgirl." Jarvis certainly didn't feel the need to take such abuse from his student.

"Here she comes, boy! Quick—toss me a dinner mint!" Cody did so and Jarvis popped it in his mouth just as Flau came up the stairs to where they were sitting. Jarvis stood and tried to say "hi," but he forgot how to talk, or anything else for that matter, when he saw her. He just stood there, feeling rather stupid.

Flau gave him a funny look, and then decided it was best to ignore him for now. "So," she said, "I guess you two were just slacking off today…"

Cody looked over his aunt's shoulder at Jarvis, who was still trying to articulate the word "hello." The man obviously needed more beer. Cody sighed. "Yeah, slacking off… Let's go home, Auntie."

Auntie! Jarvis felt his heart leap—surely Flau was an adult! He had to make his move! So he opened his mouth to say hi, and a loud belch came out instead.

Flau glanced over her shoulder at him. "You gonna be okay, big guy?"

Just in time, Yuri came up the stairs with Jarvis's next stein of beer. He snatched it off the tray and guzzled the whole thing as fast as he could. He could feel the alcohol coursing through his veins, inflating his sense of self-confidence like a life raft of pure ego!

Cody took this as his cue to leave, before Jarvis made an idiot of himself and ruined what small chance he had with Flau. He stuffed a wad of Dagols into Yuri's hand, giving her an apologetic look for leaving her with Jarvis, and headed for the stairs. "C'mon, you don't wanna see him when he's all boozed up." Flau had seen enough drunkards in her life to slake any curiosity she'd ever had about them, so she followed Cody and they left the Eatery.

Cody felt so torn. He wanted very much to be Jarvis's wingman, but he couldn't just leave his auntie Flau to fend for herself. At any rate, Cody felt that he was doing his instructor a favor in not letting his prospective girlfriend see him on one of his booze-benders. Better that he make a fool of himself in complete sobriety, than to not even remember what he'd said or done to incur the wrath of Flau. Cody hoped that Flau would just decipher Jarvis's behavior for herself. But if she hadn't figured out that he was in love with her by now, then she apparently never would.

"So, your teacher's a drunkard…" Flau mused as they strolled down the road. "I was wondering what his deal was…"

"Why'd you think he acts that way?"

"Well… I thought he was… you know…" She rapped her head a few times. "I thought he was 'special,' I guess you'd say."

Cody stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her in astonishment. "You—you think Jarvis is mental?" Cody laughed hysterically. The thought was ridiculous to him. "So that's why you put up with him!" He wiped a tear from his eye, still laughing at Flau.

"Oh, shut up! How was I supposed to know? Should I just go up to him and ask him if he's retarded!"

"Man, oh man! If Jarvis heard you say that, he'd stab himself!"

"Why?"

And that's when Cody stopped laughing. He'd said too much. "Uhhh…" Unable to think of a good cover-up, Cody ran for home before he could completely compromise Jarvis's hidden affections.

"Hey!" Flau ran after him. "You come back here, kid! You know something I don't?"

* * *

Orotroz poured himself a bit of scotch—just a little something before he turned in for the night. His latest paramour, Marietta, was already fast asleep. He watched her from the doorway of his study, admiring the way her contour moved as she breathed. He decided against waking her, instead going back into his study to sit in his favorite chair by the hearth. He stoked the embers in the hearth until there was a little more light in the room, and picked up that morning's paper.

He wasn't actually reading, however—he was listening to the muted sound of someone who was waiting in the darkest corner of his study, waiting for that person to make their move. Most people would have dismissed the faint breathing-noise as a figment of their imagination, but Orotroz hadn't clawed his way to the top of Radiata's food-chain by doubting his senses. After a minute or so of such waiting, Orotroz sighed and folded up the newspaper. "I know you're there. Won't you step into the light and speak with me, my friend?" No one ever got anywhere by uttering the first insult; Orotroz was always courteous, even in a fight.

It was a woman whom emerged from the shadows. Her silhouette before the doorway was enough to reveal her identity to Orotroz—he never forgot the shape of any woman's body.

The dark woman had her back to him. She was looking at Marietta, standing exactly as Orotroz had but a few minutes ago. "I can see that you haven't changed." Her dulcet voice was rich and deep; it rang familiar to Orotroz, confirming his suspicions as to her identity. "Aren't you a bit old for seducing young women? She's not even in her thirties, I'll wager."

Orotroz chuckled softly. He sipped the last of his scotch, and then gently set down the glass. He rose from his chair and walked up to the intruder, calmly leaning in the doorway next to her. "My dear, there are indeed many people who would agree with you. I, however, do not. Besides," he looked over at Marietta and smiled, warmly and genuinely. "I really do like this one. She's an assistant professor at your _alma mater_. Her sagacity is outweighed only by her youthful charm. She has this innocent way about her, you see—"

"Youth dies, and nothing is left but foolish longing." The woman's voice grew cold, with just a hint of bitterness. "I didn't come here to discuss your latest odalisque."

Orotroz smiled again—all teeth, no warmth. "You're the same as always, Mujina. At my age, I suppose it is good to see that some things _don't_ change. Well then, I suppose you must have something very important to say…" he closed the door to the study and walked to the étagère where his decanter was. He poured some scotch for his guest, and then he refilled his own glass. "… After all, I can't think of any other logical reason for you to show your face in Void territory—let alone in my chambers." His manner had also become more businesslike, a mockery of true hospitality. "Won't you have a seat, my dear?"

Without a moment's hesitation, with all the calm audacity of an old friend and rival, Mujina seated herself in the armchair next to Orotroz's and accepted the drink from his hands. Of course she couldn't drink it, with the surgeon's mask over her face. "Indeed, I remember our agreement, Orotroz. I do not regret it, giving up the life I'd made for myself."

"I imagine you don't, my dear. I couldn't see you passing up the chance to run into _his_ arms—even if it meant turning your back on the guild." There was just a hint of rancor in his voice as he spoke, and his good eye burned like a torch of malice. But his cold smile remained, like always. "Did it sweeten the deal, my dear, that I allowed you to leave unscathed?"

"Don't make me laugh. You couldn't touch me. You cannot, and never will, be able to harm me, Orotroz. And with _him_, with my redeemer, I was even above reproach in the eyes of the law. Through him, I was as blameless and as free as a child."

"Ah yes, you two were so happy together. Ne'er was there a more blissful union. Yet things have changed, so I hear…" Mujina visibly bristled in response to his words, which only encouraged him. "You poor thing… how you've suffered!" He chuckled and lifted his glass to his lips, only to have it smacked out of his hand by Mujina. It shattered against the hardwood floor, and Orotroz stared at the woman in abject disbelief; this wasn't the same Mujina, after all. "My, my! You've developed quite the temper, my dear!" He grinned nervously and tried to laugh it off, but his confident façade was beginning to crack.

Mujina sat back in her chair, glaring daggers at Orotroz. For the longest time neither of them said anything—they only stared, not daring to take their eyes off of each other. It was in this silence that Orotroz realized the utter helplessness of his situation; he was unarmed and in his housecoat, behind closed doors. How did she get past his guard, anyhow? But this was typical of his old friend; the poor guard was probably strangled and left to rot in the corridor.

Finally Mujina broke the silence. "You will not assist Cody or his family from this point on. He is a marked man—his fate is in my hands now."

This was completely out of the blue. Orotroz couldn't fathom what she wanted with that boy. "Do you mean to kill that young man? What is he to you?"

"What his connection is to me, and what I choose to do or not do to him, is none of your concern. All you need to know is that if he or one of those meddling women come running to you for help, your hands are tied." That being said, Mujina got up and left, slamming the door behind her.

Orotroz sank back into his chair and gazed into the heap of dying embers in his hearth. He really did hate the arrogance of that woman; never had he been the type who was inclined to abuse women, but that woman was practically _begging_ for a sound beating. She thought she was so great, just because she could push around a few of his lackeys, just because she looked mean… Still, she'd be more trouble than Orotroz wanted to deal with, and she just might prove dangerous if he provoked her. Not one to needlessly court danger, Orotroz decided to play along with her.

He really did like Rynka and her delightful children, and Flau was such a lovely thing. It would be a shame to let young talent like Cody simply go to waste, but it was a small price to pay if Orotroz was to avoid danger.

* * *

"Uncle Galen, do I have your word that you won't try to kill him?"

"As a holy man, I am obligated to honor my word."

"Hey! Don't talk about me like I ain't here, Captain."

Ganz, Galen, and Jack were making their way through an evergreen forest, ascending to the top of what Galen had _insisted_ was a mere foothill. Jack hadn't exactly been brought up in the plains, but he'd only ever seen mountains this high from a distance.

"I'm glad that you're finally coming home to us, Ganz." Galen placed his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "It has been so long since I'd heard from you, and my divination has been so clouded in regard to you… I had thought you dead, and that our proud family had finally met its tragic end. Yet here you are, my nephew, walking beside me in the land of our fathers…"

Ganz remained helplessly silent. He had not intention of staying in Rothsberg—at that time especially, Rothsberg was the last place that Ganz wanted to be. He and Jack would be promptly on their way as soon as they were rested and re-supplied. They would leave for somewhere far, far away—like Sophika. Or maybe they'd even cross the Eumena Sea to explore lands unknown. But even as he thought those thoughts, Ganz felt a pang of guilt. Galen was family—his _uncle_, for Heaven's sake—and Ganz was all that Galen had left in this world. Ganz cleared his throat and spoke up after a brief silence. "Yes. Well, I… I suppose I could stay for a short while, Uncle—"

And then they saw it—a lamb with its throat slit, suspended upside down from a branch by its hind legs. It seemed that the poor thing had been there for a while. The body was rigid, the lamb's mouth hanging open and its tongue missing. It no longer had eyes; it sockets and mouths were brimming over with pale maggots. The blood of its body had run down the trunk of the tree to cake against the bark, dark and dull like old sap.

Jack was quite disturbed by what lay before him. He plugged his nose and looked away to see Ganz and Galen staring up at the carcass with wide eyes, utterly silent. Galen's eyes were filled with tears, and he clutched the ewe lamb in his arms like it was his baby. "What is this?" He asked Ganz. "Who would do something like this?"

Galen handed the ewe lamb to his nephew, unable to take his eyes from the horror that lay before him, and as he approached the dead lamb he began to weep. He groaned and gnashed his teeth at first, pulling at his hair, ripping it loose from the cord that tied it back as he dropped to his knees before the bloodstained tree.

Ganz was speechless, appalled as one who'd found a hanged man. But finally he spoke to Jack, quietly. "Lambs are sacred. Sheep dwell on our pastures, and we don't slay them for any reason—it is an abomination to do so in our land. The one who is guilty of this… this _atrocity_… they have made a statement of open aggression and hatred." A tear fell down his cheek, followed by another. His voice cracked as he continued. "The sheep of the pasture are all cared for by my uncle. He is the lord of Rothsberg, but he does this willingly—they're like children to him…" He buried his face in the lamb's wool, like a child, and sobbed.

Jack didn't know what to say. He could only look in sad nescience at Galen, who wailed and moaned like a bereaved father, and then back at Ganz—two victims of a crime that Jack couldn't quite understand.

_Tsuzuku…_


	8. Las Calles de Sangre

**Well, here it is--six months in the making. Or at least, here's half of it. I'm gonna make you wait to see what happens to Ganz and Jack!**

Anyway, yeah. Sorry it took me so long... this chapter nearly killed me! And, seeing as it's 2:30 am, I'm going to bed. I apologize for any spelling errors, stupid grammar snafus, and gaping plot-holes you may encounter. Good night, and good luck!

By the time Cody woke up it was at least noon, but the house still smelled like breakfast. He lay there in a stupor for a few minutes until he glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was close to eleven, and that he'd missed two classes already.

_"MA! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME?!"_

Everyone in the house heard him. Brother Clive heard him all the way down on the street corner. Rynka just smiled dotingly as she threw some rice and sausage back in the skillet to reheat it. She took the bowl of boiled eggs out of the icebox and set it back out on the table where Olivia sat, coloring a picture of her family. A floppy stuffed animal, looking far older than its owner, was sprawled out on the corner of the table where he could guard Olivia's crayons.

Sitting next to Olivia was Flau, reading a copy of Radius's _Historia. _She took a sip of her plain coffee and then picked up a slice of toast with ricotta slathered all over it. She didn't bat an eye as Cody ran around upstairs, making enough of a racket to knock the dust off of the rafters. Olivia stopped humming for a second and looked up, but she quickly lost interest and went back to her coloring.

Upstairs, Cody was trying to find his brush, throwing on the first thing that fell out of his closet, taking off his sweater ad putting it on the right way, searching desperately for his left boot, shoving deodorant up his sleeves and smearing it all over his armpits, pulling his hair back, and running downstairs to grab his bag off the coat-rack. By the time he'd reached the bottom stair, and had opened his mouth to gripe about being late, Cody finally remembered that classes had been called off for independent study time. He wasn't going to be late for anything—in fact, he had plenty of time to eat before his study date with his friend Nick and with Marietta, that cute professor whom he'd been praying to get tutored by...

Flau didn't even look up from her book as she took another bite of toast and then greeted him. "Morning, kid..." she said between bites.

Cody mumbled in response, and helped himself to a couple of eggs as he sat down across from Flau. He glanced up from staring at his lap and looked at the stuffed lion while he cracked open one of the eggs on the edge of the table. He paused for a minute, examining the doll. He'd never seen it before; where did it come from, why was it so ratty and dingy, and why was it so close to his food?

Olivia saw her brother gawking at the stuffed animal so she scooped it up, shoving it in his face to give him a better look. "See? His name is Ruu-Ruu, and he's my new friend." She pressed the thing to her ear, as though she was listening to it, and then pushed it back under Cody's nose. "He likes you! He wants a kiss!"

"Are you nuts?! Get that thing away from me!" Cody edged away from Ruu-Ruu, tipping back in his chair and almost falling backward. "Seriously, Olivia, that thing's old and nasty!"

"No he's not!" she insisted, pressing the animal against his chest. "You hurt his feelings, so now you gotta say sorry!"

"What did I tell you about leaning back in your chair?" Cody felt himself lurch forward as his mom pushed the chair back upright. "And what'd I tell _you_, Olivia? Get that toy away from the table—no 'buts'!" Rynka dumped the whole panful of sausage and rice onto her son's plate as she spoke to him. "That thing was a 'stowaway' from when we were looting Anastasia's vault. I was gonna throw it out, but Olivia saw it and fell in love."

"Well, couldn't you've at least washed it first? It smells like fifty years worth of spit."

Rynka said nothing as she turned to put the frying pan back on the stove to cool, but then she did a double-take. "Cody, did you dye your hair?"

"What?"

"Your hair. It's all reddish up top."

Flau looked up from her book and eyed her godson. "Yeah, it looks like you got rust, kid." With that she took another bite of toast and disappeared back into the world of _Historia._

Flau's attempt at humor really didn't do anything to help, though. Cody sighed and got up, and he walked over to the mirror on the wall. His reflection appalled him—orange-red patches of hair had somehow cropped up all over his scalp overnight, contrasting sharply with his naturally dark hair. How his head got to be that way, Cody could not fathom. What he did know was that he couldn't be seen in public like that, especially in front of Miss Marietta.

Having done enough panicking for one day, Cody closed his eyes and counted to ten silently. He knew he couldn't hide, and he knew he had to show up at the library that day. So he opened the closet, donned the first hat he could get his hands on, and stomped out of the house in an even worse mood than before, slamming the door behind him.

Rynka shook her head in disapproval. "That boy didn't even touch his breakfast."

"Nice hat, Cody. What'dja do, steal it from your baby sister?"

"Aww, shut it, Nick. I ain't in the mood today."

Good old Nick, Bruce's son from down the road, walked with his friend as they headed toward the institute. "Sorry man, I was just kidding. But why are you wearing that hat? Didja get a bad haircut?"

Cody just shook his head 'no' and scowled at nothing in particular but Nick, out of concern for his sullen friend, persisted. "Did'ja dye your hair?"

"No. Just leave me alone."

There was a moment of silence as they continued toward Vareth, and then Nick snatched the hat from Cody's head. "It can't be that bad, man."

_"Gimme my hat!"_ Cody pulled his shirt up over his hair, but it was too late. Nick had seen it.

"Cool! I wish my dad'd let me dye _my_ hair. Your mom's so awesome!"

"It's not dyed! Now will you give me my hat already?!"

Nick complied, and Cody pulled it down to his ears.

"So... are those highlights, then?"

"... no. They're not. Let's just go inside." Cody pushed open the big oak double-doors of the Vareth Institute, and Nick followed him into the cafeteria, where Marietta said she'd meet them at noon.

Marietta pulled another book off the shelf, inadvertently dragging the entire shelf-full with it. She didn't care about the mess she was making. She didn't care about the dirty look that the librarian was giving her. She didn't care that she'd been in the library all morning, and that she had an appointment with two of her students in an hour. Something was going on—it was the presence of a powerful sorcerer, she figured. There was someone who'd just entered the city naught but yesterday, and already they were manipulating huge volumes of manna Who was it, and what was he doing? Even Orotroz knew that something was going on; he was visibly tense when she'd woken up that morning. He was distracted, and looked like he hadn't slept all night, but he refused to tell her anything.

The whole thing didn't seem right to Marietta; she simply _had to _find out what was going on. Although Professor Curtis forbade his underlings to use any forms of divination, beyond standard astrology, Marietta felt that she needed something more potent than mere star charts that day. Technically, all she was doing was giving herself a better view of the stars. What she sought was an ancient codex from the lands to the east—_The Tome of Xatere, Messenger of The Venerable Estrello, God of the Heavenly Vault._ The book itself, according to Leona's description of it, was just as tedious as its title. Allegedly it contained the names of each and every star in the sky—along with an illustration of the constellation it could be found in. Marietta doubted the validity of such a claim, as stars were innumerable, but all that mattered was whether it would help her find out who was getting her so worked up.

As Leona had explained it, the stars were each connected with a life somewhere in the universe. Therefore, since one of those stars would have corresponded with the mysterious sorcerer, all Marietta had to do was employ a little scrying with the help of that book. Simple enough. But where _was _the darned thing? It hadn't been used for years, and Leona said that it had creeped her out, so she'd pushed it back behind the other books.

Finally, Marietta recovered the tome—it had fallen behind one of the shelves on the second level, and she nearly toppled the whole thing over in recovering it. The thing was almost cube-like, it had so many pages. It was bound in a smooth black leather that felt all too skin-like for it to be anything else—and yet who had skin the color of ink? Twelve silver stars adorned the book's cover, with two shining white gems in the middle of them. But most notably, the book was locked...

... and it was humming with energy, fighting to burst open, it seemed.

Marietta steeled herself, shutting out all of her fears, drowning out the little voice in the back of her head which begged her to cover up the tome and run away. She tucked the book under her arm and went to the circulation desk to ask for the book's key. After some digging, Lynn found the corresponding key and handed it to her. Marietta thanked her, and then ran out of the school and down the street to her apartment, tripping several times as she ran. Twenty minutes until she had to tutor the boys—she'd just thumb through the pages a bit, only enough to sate her curiosity, and then she'd go meet Cody and Nick.

Once she was safely behind the locked door of her tiny apartment, Marietta unlocked the book. Immediately it grew too heavy for Marietta to hold, and she dropped it to the floor. She'd expected some glowing, or maybe a few tremors, but this was ridiculous—the book was shaking so violently that the floorboards were rattling. Startled, Marietta stumbled back and smacked her head against the corner of a bookshelf, and then she tripped over one of her shoes and fell to her knees.

She looked up, rubbing the back of her sore head, and she found herself sitting at the feet of a tall, stately woman, naked yet unabashed. She was statuesque, with long chestnut curls down to her hips; she was indeed very lovely, but her expression was grim—malicious, even. The strange woman looked down her nose at Marietta in cold, silent disdain, almost completely unaware of herself in her contempt for the poor girl.

Marietta finally spoke after a few seconds of awed silence. "Did... did you really come from the book?"

"The book?" The lady's voice was decidedly that of a man's, cruel and mocking. Marietta backed away from her, until she hit the wall, and even still she tried to back away—the woman was literally glowing with manna Waves of heat rose from her, like a hot breeze in an arid land. In spite of all this, Marietta felt quite cold. What had she invited into her home?

The woman was contemplating something, it seemed, and when she glanced down at the open tome which lay at her feet her eyes lit up. "Ah yes, the book... that wretched sorceress..." She snarled. "I'll kill that woman..."

Marietta tried to stay calm. She thought about her situation, and then decided that it was in her best interest to cooperate with the... the creature—at least, until she could get help from someone on the outside. "Someone trapped you in there, then? Perhaps I could--"

"Shut up!" The woman hissed and seized Marietta by the hair, lifting her off the ground with otherworldly strength. "I detest your pitiful race; the sight of you mortals sickens me!" Her eyes glowed like embers, burning brighter as her ire rose. Marietta cried for mercy and struggled to free herself, but the creature's hand was unyielding as stone. "I will have my revenge on that bitch, and then I will destroy this city and everyone in it—and _you_ shall be my first victim!"

"I told you to just open the door."

"But Cody, that's not polite!"

When Marietta didn't show up at the cafeteria, Nick and Cody checked the library for her. Leann, the librarian, had informed the boys that Marietta had run back to her apartment as soon as she'd found the book she'd needed. Nick figured that she'd decided to cook for them instead of eating at the cafeteria, but Cody sensed that something was wrong. Why hadn't she left a message for them at the front desk?

They walked to her apartment building to check on her, and what they found was unbearable: Marietta was lying naked on the floor, dead. A hole had been bored into her chest, right between her breasts. Her heart had been ripped out, and the word "Mujina" was written all over the walls in Marietta's blood.

Neither of the boys knew how to react at first. For Nick this was especially traumatizing, since he'd never seen such violence in his life. Cody was just as appalled as his friend, but he was the first to recover. He grabbed his friend's shoulder, shaking him to get him out of his state of shock. "Nick... can you stay here? I need to find help."

Nick shook his head—there was no way he was going to wait around for the killer to come back. So Cody had a bit of a dilemma on his hands; his mother's standing with the law being what it was, he couldn't just go running to the lawmen. He couldn't bring Nick with him to Void Headquarters, either—that'd be asking for trouble. But maybe, just maybe...

"Okay Nick, you father's in Vancoor, right?

Nick shook his head yes, still unable to tear his eyes from the scene that lay before him.

"Then go tell Thanos. I'll—uhhh, I'll go get my mom." Of course this was a lie; the first person he was going to see was Orotroz. He'd want to know what'd happened to his girlfriend—especially since he was so fond of this one.

The two of them left the apartment, shutting the door behind them, and went their separate ways—Nick to the Theater Vancoor headquarters, and Cody to the seedier part of town.


End file.
